My turn to tell a quick story of others' generosity and the incredible spiderweb of relationships that are able to be woven and strengthened due to Trad Gang in general and the St. Jude auction specifically.

For the third year out of seven or eight, Greyfox54 (Fred) was the highest bidder for the hunt my dad offers on our little farm in IL. Fred has become a family member and this year it looks like my oldest son (laxbowman) may get to join Fred on the hunt for a couple days. Well it wasn't enough that Fred outbid everyone on this hunt and several other items, he outbid me on a knife and sharpener package that buckster (Barry) offered up. Well, Fred then had Barry send ME the package! Thanks again brother! By the way, I've had the pleasure of sharing elk camp with Barry, so the web grew stronger.

I only put up one cigar package this year, but Lippe (Mark) bid it up big time. Since I moved to TX, we aren't too far away from each other and several weeks ago were able to meet up at a 3D shoot, fling some arrows and smoke a stogie together. He introduced me to some of his family and some other TX trad folks. Thanks Lippe! The web grew larger.

And finally, I decided the bulk of my spend in the auction this year was going to be on some broadheads. TxAg (Jeff) offered several packages and two of them met my set-up needs, so I made them mine. Jeff and I are both in the Dallas area and we met for lunch a couple weeks back and had a great time. As expected, he is quality people and I look forward to doing some shooting and hunting with him in the future. Thank you Jeff! Another section was added to the web.

Simply put, TG offers us a chance to reach others in a way that we might not otherwise enjoy. The St. Jude auction gives us additional opportunities to do the same AND do a little bit to help out some very worthy children. I posted this to give encouragement to those who have participated and to ask those that haven't to consider being a part next year. There is way more than just charitable giving going on. It helps form and strengthen relationships with good people.

One last thing. It is not too early to start thinking and budgeting for next year!  
       

   

Great stuff there and so true, some of the most giving folks are connected right here on this site!

         

way to spin a story ... web

I have been lucky to meet people from all across the US because of the St Jude auction fun !

Waiting for the auction is like waiting for opening day of hunting season for me ..

Yep! There are a few good folks around here!!!

Bisch

Darren, I enjoyed meeting you as well. I'm game for another beer anytime you are!

Ken,  I totally agree with the opening day comparison!

Jeff, I'll call you next week and we'll make it happen.

That's Fred.  Cool guy and generous friend.

Cool story , this is a great site to be a part of!

   

   

Thanks guys. It is a cool story. And there are MANY great folks on this site.

But I really want to make sure that that we all realize there are 10 months until next year's auction.

We can plan. We can budget. And we can get back to the numbers we had a few years ago. Those precious children are counting on us.